Whilst biofuels are likely to be the major product from biomass in terms of volume and value, cost-effective and sustainable bioprocessing will require the development of other value streams particularly from components not converted into ethanol. We have identified a range of added value products for which potential markets already exist, and will work to identify the extraction and processing steps necessary to generate waxes, lignin derivatives and poly and oligosaccharides from C4 grasses. Some aspects of this WP will be informed by data on cell wall degradation products from WP5, including those from modified plants emerging from other WPs. The work in this WP will directly feed into WP7, which will integrate the production of added value products with ethanol production.

WP6 leader Prof James Clark (P1, University of York, Green Chemistry, UK)